MANILA — A Taguig court junked on Monday an estafa complaint filed by actress Kris Aquino against her former business partner Nicko Falcis.

Taguig Regional Trial Court Branch 117 dismissed the case after Aquino’s consecutive non-appearance at its hearings, noting the previous settlement she had reached with Falcis’ camp, PEP.ph reported.

The decision, signed by presiding judge Ma. Victoria Padilla-Awid, reads: “There is a Joint Motion to Dismiss however, the private complainant is again not present, she was already given several opportunities to come to Court to validate, affirm and confirm the Joint Motion to Dismiss she co-executed and her Affidavit of Desistance. Hence, the Court will now act on the instant Joint Motion to Dismiss.”

The dismissal of this case leaves only one more for Falcis to face: a credit card fraud case filed by Aquino also in Taguig.

Aquino had earlier sued Falcis for qualified theft in seven cities in October 2018, stemming from the latter’s supposed unauthorized, personal use of a credit card meant for expenses of Aquino’s eponymous production company.

In October 2019, Aquino’s camp announced that she and Falcis “have fairly settled all financial issues and amicably worked out all personal differences.”

“To avoid any future misunderstanding, no further statement shall be forthcoming,” it added, without specifying which of the cases, or if all the cases, were settled.